Transcript7/9/1999Indonesian forces and militia working together to weed out opposition

Today, even though Indonesia has now declared martial law, the exodus of United Nations observers and foreign media continued amid widespread reports of a mounting death toll and of Timorese refugees being rounded up at gunpoint by pro-Jakarta militia and Indonesian soldiers.

Although Australian troops are now prepared to go into East Timor at short notice as part of an international force, our Government, the US and the United Nations have all failed so far to force Indonesia to accept the option.

Such is the state of East Timor that even Bishop Belo, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and spiritual leader of the East Timorese, has been forced to flee to Darwin.

Shortly I'll be talking with the PM about his efforts and expectations.

I'll also be crossing to Jakarta to talk exclusively with the senior adviser to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the woman who may well be Indonesia's next president.

But first, a powerful eyewitness account tonight from the East Timor capital of Dili, of just how closely the pro-Jakarta militia are working with the Indonesian police and military in their campaign of terror.

I spoke a short while ago with Alan Nairn, an American journalist who has risked his life to remain in Dili outside the protection of the UN compound.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Alan Nairn, what for you are the most important things that you have witnessed in the past 24 hours that tell us the story of what is really going on in Dili?

ALAN NAIRN: Well, I just came through the central business district of Dili.

It's burnt, it's smouldering.

The smoke was stinging your eyes.

There are Aitarak militia everywhere in the streets, side by side with uniformed TNI infantry and Brimob police and Polri police.

Just yesterday, I was picked up in the afternoon by a group of men who appeared to be militia -- black T-shirts, automatic weapons, red and white bandannas.

The man they called the commander was drunk, he was trying to steal a truck.

But through some fast talking with them, I managed to get them to call higher up and within two minutes a uniformed senior police commander appeared.

These men were actually police, even though at all appearances they were militia.

I was then taken to a police base, where there were thousands of refugees, uniformed Brimob, uniformed battalion 744, uniformed Polri police, plain-clothes Kopassus intell, and also roaming among the refugees, questioning them, putting some of them on the trucks, there were uniformed Aitarak, right there in the police base with their black Aitarak T-shirts shirts, their pistols, automatic weapons.

They were putting people on trucks.

They said they were going on the trucks whether they liked it or not and these families were then carted away.

I saw some of the trucks leaving, God knows what they're doing with these people.

Their loved ones have no way to track them.

They've targeted the most active independence neighbourhoods. The Aitarak seem to be systematically trying to pick up foreigners or outsiders or Timorese they recognise as pro-independence people.

It's a deadly situation.

I was here during the 1991 Dili massacre -- survived that massacre, and until a couple of days ago, I have to say that, as bad as it was here, the overall level of terror was not as bad as it had been in 1990, 1991.

But now I think it has surpassed that level.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Alan, tell me your understanding of how blatant the attack was on Red Cross personnel and the people that they were endeavouring to protect?

ALAN NAIRN: Well, I wasn't there, but I talked to people who were, and they said that they went in, trashed and burnt the office, herded away the refugees, took some of the Red Cross staff and refugees out at gunpoint with their hands raised, and this is the place that for many years was considered kind of the ultimate sanctuary in Timor, right next to the Bishop's office.

They're overrunning everything.

It's clearly part of a careful military strategy.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Alan, we're going to have to leave it there, I'm sorry.

But thank you for talking with us, and good luck.

And of course international conventions on war have protected the Red Cross through this century effectively, through some awful wars.

Not so in East Timor.

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